]]>Alternate side of the street parking is in effect until noon on Sunday.

Saturday evening they should be parked on the odd number side of the street. On Sunday, February 18th, vehicles should be moved to the even number side of the street. This alternate side of the street parking ban will be lifted at noon Sunday.

]]>I’m not sure if it’s the frosty February chill or the toppling boxes of heart-shaped boxes in the grocery stores, but I’ve been craving something sweet.

While I love to bake, I don’t usually like to prepare anything chocolatey. But this week I decided to change things up and make a luxurious treat.

Chocolate lovers can rejoice — here is a decadently sweet way to satisfy your sweet tooth from the comfort of your own home. Instead of dragging yourself to a fancy restaurant, you can easily make a Chocolate Lava Cake in your home while wearing your bunny slippers.

I originally thought it would be really hard to make this recipe, especially since I’ve always found the idea of lava cakes to be rather lavish. It was also slightly intimidating, given that I was worried about having the appropriate amount of “lava” gush from the cake and hoping that I wouldn’t undercook it in my efforts to create the perfect eruption.

What’s great about the recipe is that because the cakes are so tiny, you won’t have to worry about feeling guilty about having more than just one.

Chocolate Lava Cakes

Makes six

½ cup butter

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

¼ cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

4 ounces of baker’s chocolate (or 2/3 cup of chocolate morsels)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Melt the butter and chocolate together (over the stove or in the microwave) and stir until the mixture is smooth. Combine the eggs, yolks and sugar in a bowl and blend them with a mixer until the eggs are frothy. Gradually blend the chocolate mixture into the eggs. Once the chocolate mixture has been blended in, fold the flour into the bowl. Grease the ramekins (or muffin tin if you don’t have ramekins) and dust them with a bit of flour to ensure the cakes don’t stick. If the ramekins are not properly greased the cakes will rupture when you try to remove them from the ramekin. Pour the batter into the ramekins until they are ¾ of the way full and place the ramekins on a baking pan before placing them in the oven. Bake the cakes for eight minutes or until the middle stops jiggling. Once the cakes are done, let them sit for 30 seconds before flipping the ramekins on the plate for serving.

When the cakes are on the plate they can be topped with chocolate syrup, powdered sugar or a scoop of ice cream (or all three).

Note: If you’re just going to be making the cakes for yourself and you don’t care about the presentation, you can always eat the cake right out of the ramekin and you won’t have to worry about them exploding onto the plate.

]]>Since movies started to talk about 90 years ago, filmmakers have relied on voice-over to share parts of a narrative that traditional dialogue doesn’t cover. Such commentaries can reveal what a character can’t otherwise say, such as William Holden in Sunset Boulevard, or provide a voice to a someone who can’t speak, such as Glenn Close in Reversal of Fortune. When effectively used, voice-over can enhance; when less effective, it can annoy.

Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut, Molly’s Game, features the most distracting use of voice-over since Tobey Maguire tried to channel F. Scott Fitzgerald in the remake of The Great Gatsby a few years ago. Sorkin, best known for his rapid-fire dialogue on television in The West Wing and on film in The Social Network, surprises this time with a lack of narrative or character development. Because the movie never lets us know what it’s trying to accomplish, the voice- over feels like a last-minute attempt to make sense of it all. Although Sorkin’s work secured an Oscar nomination, his honored screenplay relies on the recorded voice to compensate for what his actual voices fail to deliver.

Sorkin’s story chronicles the career of Molly Bloom, an ambitious lady who gets rich running gambling events for high-profile players. As with most films about a rise and fall, this one begins with an under-valued Bloom frustrated at her limited options in the workforce. Soon — with the help of Sorkin’s voice-over — we learn how plucky she can be when she identifies an opportunity to move from assisting a gambling promoter to becoming one herself. Fortune soon arrives at her door, which is welcome, along with fame, which is not. But Molly is a resourceful lady and, as she begins to navigate her fall, she and her voice over commentary resolve to learn from the lessons she experiences.

The problem with Sorkin’s approach — in addition to all the voice-over — is how he reveals everything about Molly in the early moments. We learn, too soon, all the bad things she has to go through before we connect to her reasons to pursue the good things. Because Sorkin plays his cards too soon, no pun intended, he has nothing to show later on, leaving Chastain alone on screen impersonating a character with the help of that ever-present voice over. The result is a film that feels longer than its extended two-hour, 20-minute running time, simply because so little happens. And this story, and this character, need things to happen.

What a disappointment. In a year filled with dynamic performances from women playing rich characters, the role of Molly should offer any performer the chance to shine. But actors need words to build portrayals. While Sorkin gives Jessica Chastain a lot of words, most of them simply progress the narrative; they don’t tell us much about the lady. And Chastain — so effective on screen when given the right words — looks lost in a performance that relies on her natural charisma to fill in the holes. And her voice.

Film Nutritional Value: Molly’s Game

Content: Medium. Even an excessive amount of voice-over has a hard time filling all the holes in the narrative from Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.

Entertainment: Medium. Despite Jessica Chastain’s appealing presence on screen, the film fails to ring true because Sorkin doesn’t give the actress enough of a character to play.

Message: Low. Other than “it shouldn’t pay to cheat” the movie doesn’t leave us with that much to chew on.

Relevance: Low. Any opportunity to get out of the cold is worthwhile as is any visit to the movies. But I’d skip this one.

Opportunity for Dialogue: Medium. Any film that shows that crime doesn’t pay can prompt healthy discussion. Even when the movie disappoints.

2-1/2 Popcorn Buckets. Molly’s Game is rated R for language, drug content and some violence. The film runs two hours, 20 minutes.

Moneyball: Aaron Sorkin hits a home run

By Mark Schumann

The Reel Dad

Of all the sports that Hollywood cooks into movies, baseball may be the most overdone. For every Field of Dreams and Eight Men Out we savor, we endure overheated imitations like For Love of the Game or Angels in the Infield. And, because the menu for making a baseball film is so familiar, the genre cries for creative reinvention.

Aaron Sorkin, fresh from winning an Oscar for writing The Social Network, brought his fondness for rapid-fire dialogue to an unlikely topic, what may or may not happen behind the scenes in major league baseball. The result is Sorkin at his best, a thorough, compelling and captivating story about a man trying to make the most of the time left in his professional pursuits. It’s quite a different outcome than how Sorkin disappoints with Molly’s Game.

Moneyball is actually less about the sport than a character study of a man trying to overcome his demons. This man could be in any business, facing any crisis that resurrects fears of failure from his youth. While his world sits inside a baseball stadium offers the visuals we recognize, his challenge is universal. Each of us, at some point, must confront the remnants of our disappointments. For this man, the baggage he carries happens to include a baseball bat.

Billy Beane, once a promising young baseball player, finds himself, in middle age, as the disappointed general manager of the Oakland Athletics. Because of the economics of the sport in the early 2000s, his team cannot afford the talent of other, richer teams. So he lets himself, and his team, savor minor victories that feed their compromised ambitions.

He wants more. And Billy knows that more will only come if he finds a new way to compete. He implements a mathematical theory that focuses on the probabilities of runs — and the mix of players to achieve specific thresholds — rather than choose the best players the payroll will permit. Billy befriends a young Harvard graduate to put the theory to work as a partner in his dream to reinvent his team and the sport.

Moneyball carefully avoids baseball movie clichés — even in classic sequences of the team fighting to win important games — to deliver a fascinating portrait that any career-focused person over age 40 will recognize. Billy isn’t simply trying to win one more game; he wants to leave a legacy of change that will be remembered long after his working days end. Fueled by his own disappointments as a baseball player, he wants to be remembered as someone with the courage and persistence to reinvent a sport and himself. By placing the narrative of the man into the familiar framework of a baseball film, director Bennett Miller uses the conventions we recognize to address the issues we may overlook. Because love for the game is a part of every moment, Miller doesn’t have to hit us over the head with baseball imagery. Instead he focuses on the man.

The magic of Moneyball has as much to do with what it avoids as what it includes. The tight script by Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian never resorts to the phrases we have heard in countless baseball films; likewise Bennett Miller never reaches for the typical moments. In Moneyball, no baseballs hit the lights when the hero hits the home run; instead, the lights explode inside the head and heart. And that makes this baseball game a winner in every inning.

Moneyball, from 2011, is Rated PG-13 for some strong language. The film runs 2 hours, 13 minutes. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Actor (Brad Pitt), Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), Film Editing, Sound Mixing and Adapted Screenplay. It is available for online streaming.

]]>https://www.milfordmirror.com/82988/reel-dad-mollys-game-voice-over-wears-thin/feed/0https://www.milfordmirror.com/82988/reel-dad-mollys-game-voice-over-wears-thin/Local church will hold Sunday service at a breweryhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MilfordMirrorNews/~3/0HCUr_M929M/
https://www.milfordmirror.com/83097/local-church-will-hold-sunday-service-at-a-brewery/#commentsFri, 16 Feb 2018 18:23:32 +0000https://www.milfordmirror.com/?p=83097Churches have been talking about dwindling attendance for years, and brainstorming ways to draw young...

The Rev. Tricia Pasley from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and her brother Rob Leonard, owner of The New England Brewing Company in Woodbridge, join forces to present “Craft Church.”

Churches have been talking about dwindling attendance for years, and brainstorming ways to draw young parishioners into their pews.

The Rev. Tricia Pasley from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Milford recently had an idea to boost attendance, and it’s an idea that either makes her brilliant, or the coolest minister in town: Beer.

Talking recently with others about church attendance, Pasley said she pointed out that folks in their twenties and thirties are not in the pews.

“I said, half joking, I know where they are,” Pasley recalled. “They’re in the local breweries.”

The comment led to more talk, and eventually to plans to hold a service in a local brewery.

Her brother, Rob Leonard, happens to own the New England Brewing Company in Woodbridge, and offered to host what may be the very first Craft Church.

On Sunday, March 18, The New England Brewing Company, located at 175 Amity Road in Woodbridge, will offer up its tasting room to church goers and spiritual seekers alike for a special Sunday night service.

Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and guests will be treated to a variety of appetizers, sparkling cider, and two free samples of The New England Brewing Company’s latest creations on tap.

At 7 p.m., a Eucharistic service, open to all, will take place around the bar, joined by the Craft Church Band. Afterwards, people are invited to stay and purchase a glass of craft beer, with a portion of the sales going to fight local hunger. Attendees are also welcome to hang out, meet some new friends, “and/or try to stump the priest with questions about good and evil,” states a press release announcing the event.

“It’s definitely going to be church pub style,” Pasley said, pointing out that the bar is going to be the altar, and instead of a chalice, the service will use a beer stein.

Two other Episcopal churches are joining the Milford congregation in holding the event: St. James in New Haven and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Orange. The Craft Church Band will consist of Fabian Ortiz, director of music at St. James Episcopal Church, as well as musicians from the Church of the Good Shepherd.

“And, although this service is sponsored by the Episcopal Church, it will be ecumenical in style and open to all,” Pasley said.

A 2016 Milford Mirror article about dwindling church attendance quoted Phyllis Tickle, founding editor of the religion department of Publishers Weekly, as saying that every 500 years a church goes through significant change. This latest change, she says in the article, focuses on deinstitutionalization.

Tickle also says, at Faithandleadership.com, “If history is a fair index of what’s coming, a good predictor — and it almost always is — those denominations are going to have to change the way they do business.”

Well, that’s the case here for Pasley and her followers: Uniting beer and church is definitely a change in the business model.

Or maybe it’s not: Maybe it’s about going back to the way things were a long, long time ago.

Pasley, in announcing Craft Church, poses the question: Why church in a brewery?

“It’s simple really,” reads the event announcement, “because we remember that once upon a time, a carpenter came to Earth to feed the hungry, talk with the spiritually curious, and console the heavily burdened. And he did not ask for church membership or a particular code of conduct before he came. He just came.”

Reiterating that Jesus preached where the people were already gathered, she said, “It’s an experiment. We’ve got nothing to lose. We’re trying to tap into what is already happening, and we think we have a life-saving message.”

And, she added, people in their twenties, “They’re idealistic. They want to make the world a better place.”

She’s hoping Craft Church will take off and can be done once a month.

“Too often, people think of churches as boring, not willing to change, and not interested in getting out of their own building,” Pasley said. “But, this is not the example Jesus gave us. He moved around often, was comfortable with all kinds of people, and — if we believe scripture — enjoyed a good party.”

The weather service’s forecast confidence level is listed as “moderate” in the Friday morning debriefing. At the very least, the storm will produce one to two inches of snow. There is a potential for as much as nine inches.

]]>The Milford Board of Education is trying to help parents who want to find a way to talk to their children following this week’s shooting in Parkland, Fla., in which a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The school board posted on its website an article called “Talking With Your Children About Violence.”

“This reference piece can provide you with some great conversation starters in discussing such a difficult topic,” school officials say on the site.

The piece says, “High profile acts of violence, particularly in schools, can confuse and frighten children who may feel in danger or worry that their friends or loved-ones are at risk. They will look to adults for information and guidance on how to react.”

The article states that parents and school personnel can help children feel safe by establishing a sense of normalcy and security and talking with them about their fears.

“Reassure children that they are safe. Emphasize that schools are very safe. Validate their feelings. Explain that all feelings are okay when a tragedy occurs,” the article states.

The list of recommendations was prepared by the National Association of School Psychologists.

“Let children talk about their feelings, help put them into perspective, and assist them in expressing these feelings appropriately,” the piece continues.

Psychologists also recommend getting children to talk, and to let their questions be a guide to what information should be provided. It may not always be easy to know when a child has questions, but the psychologists said adults should watch for clues, such as children “hovering around while you do the dishes or yard work.”

“Early elementary school children need brief, simple information that should be balanced with reassurances that their school and homes are safe and that adults are there to protect them,” the article states. “Give simple examples of school safety like reminding children about exterior doors being locked, child monitoring efforts on the playground, and emergency drills practiced during the school day.”

With upper elementary and early middle school children, parents may want to discuss efforts by school and community leaders to provide safe schools.

Upper middle school and high school students are likely to share suggestions about how to make schools safer. The article says parents should emphasize the role that students play in keeping schools safe, such as not letting strangers into the building, reporting strangers on campus, and reporting threats to the school.

The piece also suggests that parents limit television viewing of tragedies like the Florida school shooting, and that they take note of things they are saying in the presence of their children.

“Adults also need to be mindful of the content of conversations that they have with each other in front of children, even teenagers, and limit their exposure to vengeful, hateful, and angry comments that might be misunderstood,” the piece states.

The psychologists also recommend sticking to a normal routine.

“Senseless violence is hard for everyone to understand,” the psychologists say. “Doing things that you enjoy, sticking to your normal routine, and being with friends and family help make us feel better and keep us from worrying about the event.”

]]>Eastbound Theatre, Milford: If you haven’t been to Eastbound Theatre lately, there’s something very new going on. On Friday and Saturday performances, the theater offers cabaret seating and BYO-Everything. There’s also wine, beer, soft drinks and snacks available in the theater’s lounge. I can’t think of a more perfect way to sit back and enjoy A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia. This comedy plays through Feb. 18. Kevin Pelky directs the show and Kate Buffone plays the title role. Oh, by the way, Sylvia is a dog.

I saw Kate Buffone in this role when she played it at the Goshen Playhouse, so of course, new director and new cast means new Sylvia or does it? “Oh, what a difference,” Kate said with a laugh. Kevin wants energy, a lot of energy. I’m jumping off the couch, off the chair, and I’m practically bouncing around the stage constantly. That’s very different from the way the director wanted me to play the role in Goshen.” All productions of this show pack the house because playwright A.R. Gurney knew people couldn’t resist a good dog story and he came up with a winner.

Characters Greg and Kate have grown children and are starting new phases in their lives. The adjustment period is complicated because Greg comes home with a dog he found in the park. The dog tag spells Sylvia, but the dog spells trouble. First of all Kate doesn’t want the dog. Secondly, the dog is a streetwise kind of pooch. Sylvia just might come between this husband and wife, unless something like compromise is unleashed. “I like playing wise-ass characters,” said Buffone.

“We sold out on Friday and Saturday and we had the best audience ever for the Sunday matinee,” said Kate Buffone. Having played the role twice now, she maintains that her favorite scene is when she sees a cat in the distance. “I have to chase her of course,” laughed Kate. “The thing is that I get very, very angry and I start using all kinds of bad language. So I build up this momentum and then I just go blank. I just change my mind and direction.” It sounds as though she has spent some serious time observing dog behavior. I know that she dissected the role through and through.

Last Saturday, “Sylvia” had a benefit performance for Missy’s Mission, a non-profit organization which places homeless dogs and puppies from rescues into safe homes. According to Kate, all the puppies that were at the theater were adopted.

I have seen this play many times and I spent many a good conversation with Pete Gurney about this play. I was delighted that Kate Buffone played the role because I reviewed her performance in Goshen. However, as I sip my tea, take my meds, and wait for this wretched flu to become a thing of the past, I know that audiences are having a great time at Eastbound. Box office: 203-878-6647.

Joanne Greco Rochman was a founding member of the Connecticut Critics Circle and is an active member in the American Theatre Critics Association. She welcomes comments. Contact: jgrochman@gmail.com.

]]>Musician and author Janet Kathleen Ettele of Bethel is inspired by her background as a student of Buddhist dharma and brings its teachings into contemporary practice through both her writing and her music.

She has authored the How Life Works Series that is based on Master Shantideva’s teaching, “A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life,” also known as The Six Perfections. From this series, she has published How Generosity Works, How the Root of Kindness Works, and How Patience Works.

Ettele’s also released a CD, Piano Mandalas, meditatively inspired piano music that she intended as accompaniment to her books.

On Feb. 25, Ettele will be at the Ridgefield Library at 2 p.m. in a program called Inner Peace as a Way of Life, in which she will tell the story of her journey into studying Buddhism, how she came to write books based on Shantideva’s teachings of The Six Perfections, and about the every-day practicality of certain Buddhist principles.

Those include interdependence, impermanence, karma and equanimity and she notes that understanding and working with these principles can help cultivate peace.

“If we can learn how to channel that outrage that so many people feel, and convert that energy into something rooted in compassion, it can be so much more effective,” she said.

In the words of the Dalai Lama: “World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just mere absence of violence. Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.” This is a philosophy by which she lives her life, explaining that if there are a lot of angry people running around, there won’t be much of a peaceful world.

“During the event, I’ll be speaking about the books and what’s going on with them and what my intention was in writing them,” she said. “It’s more than a book talk. I hope to explain how these teachings can be relevant in everyday life, even though they are 2,500 years old.”

The books, she said, are very profound, but are a great read for those interested in learning about Buddhism and its practices.

“Ordinarily, Buddhist texts are very dense and very difficult to get your mind around,” Ettele said. “The intention of the teachings is to not have it be about Buddhism but illustrate the practical application of having this be an avenue to create more peace within yourself, and therefore, the world around you.”

Additionally, Ridgefield record producer Gary Lefkowith will introduce the event and perform some of Ettele’s original music with her.

“He has composed a song that we will be playing with some other musicians and I will also play songs from ‘Piano Mandalas,’ and they are all meditatively inspired. I don’t prepare it in advance but improvise it on the spot,” she said.

Ettele first became interested in practices of Buddhism when her parents — newly divorced — sent her to a Quaker boarding school on a farm at a young age.

“At that time in my life, my parents had divorced, my brother had gone to Vietnam and I found I was at such a place in my life where the best thing to happen was to be in environment where the ability to sit and develop meditation was something that helped me, and I carried it with me for the rest of my life,” she said. “After high school, I took a little time off, and when I did go to college, I went to Berklee College of Music and a few years later was married and had two children, and when they were very young, my husband left the marriage. That’s when I started teaching piano to be home for them and keep income coming in.”

When her eldest son went off to college, Ettele knew the time was right for her to do something that she could “grow old” with and learned about life coaching.

“I thought it fit rather nicely with what I was doing with the teaching I was doing with music, which was much deeper than just the music itself; it really touched on life,” she said. “This avenue of life coaching appealed to me, and I did a two-year program.”

One of the last books she read in that program was “The Mindful Coach” by Douglass Silsbee, and it referenced a great deal of Buddhist philosophy and Ettele grew more interested in the subject.

“I started to seek out books where I could learn and read more. And every book said you really need to find a teacher,” she said. “I didn’t know how I would find a Buddhist teacher in my town, but it turns out that 20 minutes from my house was a Tibetan Buddhist Center and I went and found the most amazing teachers.”

Those in the community are familiar with Ettele, who lives in Bethel. She was part of the committee that brought the Dalai Lama to Danbury in 2012. Last year, Ettele helped organize “Living Compassion, The Dalai Lama’s Life Story in Music, Words and Pictures” at the Ridgefield Playhouse, and even performed in the concert alongside Tencho Gyatso, the niece of the Dalai Lama, and Nawang Khechog, a Grammy nominee and renowned Tibetan flutist.

Ettele is excited about appearing at the Ridgefield Library and welcomes those who want to learn more and hopes a strong discussion emerges.

“I do think the value of any spiritual teaching lies in the ability to be applied in daily life,” she said. “Most everyone I come in contact with are feeling effects of the tumultuous now pretty intensely and through these characters and books, which are very relatable, it gives us a glimpse on how we can bring about positive and powerful changes and peace into our own lives.”